Navy Pier

For the 21st annual Shedd Gala, themed "Dark Waters" after the aquarium's nocturnal creatures, over 700 guests donned black-tie attire to raise funds for the John G. Shedd Aquarium, a lakefront institution that houses nearly 32,000 animals. Hosted by the board of trustees and a 57-member gala committee on June 11, the event raised over $1.9 million to support Shedd's conservation research, animal rescue, and rehabilitation and education programs for kids.

The steamy heat didn't deter guests from enjoying a reception on the North Terrace overlooking the city's skyline before an aquatic program. Gala co-chairs Alissa and Tom King and Lesly and David Koo welcomed guests, with...

Pregnant with her second child, Stephanie Coad feels much more at ease about the things that made her nervous the first time around.
She drinks the occasional glass of wine (though always with a meal). She'll eat some types of lunch meat. She orders...

Chicago's love affair with the U.S. champion Jackie Robinson West All-Stars Little League team will continue Wednesday with a welcome home rally and parade that will start on the Far South Side and wind north to Millennium Park.The rally will kick off...

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — The Jackie Robinson West team that stole the hearts of Chicago isn't going away any time soon.
Despite the 8-4 loss to South Korea in Sunday's Little League World Series championship game, the celebration of the improbable dream...

Chicago’s Little League team fell short of winning a world title Sunday, but many of the more than 1,000 fans at two city public watch parties still walked away smiling.
“They might not have won the World Series but they’re still champions in my book,”...

Chicago’s Polk family, which made its name in furniture and appliance retailing, today announced a $20 million gift to Navy Pier to help upgrade Gateway Park, the 13-acre green space at the entertainment complex’s western entrance.The park, which will...

“Watch Dogs” the hotly-anticipated crime saga out for the Microsoft and Sony game consoles as well as PC is a stunning triumph in video game design that raises the bar visually for every open world game that will come after and will give gamers...

A task force appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel has recommended the parking lots to the south of Soldier Field as the home for filmmaker George Lucas' collection of art and movie memorabilia, should the 'Star Wars' creator choose Chicago over San Francisco...

Step into the new Tilt! attraction on the 94th floor of the John Hancock Center and at first nothing happens.
You are holding big metal bars. You are peering through a full-length window. But you know what is about to occur, and your insides, you are not...

Cecily Strong says her sign-off with Colin Jost at the end of “Saturday Night Live's” “Weekend Update” is still a work in progress.
Strong and former co-anchor Seth Meyers blew kisses to the audience or gave each other a fist bump at the end of the...

As legend has it, iO co-founder Charna Halpern was nearing the end of her annual search for potential “Saturday Night Live” cast members when she spotted Cecily Strong working the iO box office one night on her way out. Halpern encouraged the Oak Park...

One of Chicago’s main tourist attractions is the setting of a major terror attack in the latest installment to the popular "Splinter Cell" video game series.
Luckily for the citizens of this faux, digital Chicago, badass undercover...

[Update: Filming for "Transformers: Age of Extinction" will continue this weekend in the Loop. Shooting will take place 7 am to 10 pm Saturday and Sunday on LaSalle Street, from West Lake Street to West Jackson Boulevard. According to a notice...

The Symmetry Live party at the W Chicago - Lakeshore hotel's Wet deck featuring Jessie Ware on Thursday made me wonder why more people aren't hanging out at this seventh floor bar with incredible views of Lake Michigan and Navy Pier, the Filter Magazine...

The week before The Squared Circle opened in mid-March, owner and pro wrestler Lisa Marie Varon — better known as Victoria during her WWE days and Tara currently with TNA wrestling — sat in a corner booth of her Lincoln Park restaurant, conducting one...

CHICAGO - It's sleek, shiny and sensational.
But let's add two more words to describe Chicago for tourists: darn expensive.
On Feb. 1, admission to the Art Institute of Chicago jumped to $23 for out-of-state visitors. In the past month, a host of...

Adela Cepeda stepped adroitly along her path to become one of the city's most prominent Latina businesswomen. But she walked it on her own, rather than as part of the power couple she and her husband were once well on their way to becoming.
Cepeda, an...

With Scrooge back under wraps, it's time for the 2013 winter theater season to begin in earnest. There's an especially strong slate of classical works opening between now and the end of March, but the offerings also are as diverse as ever. Among the...

CHICAGO - I grew up in Chicago and still go there often. But since I'm visiting my family, I rarely stay in hotels. Friends post on Facebook about their weekends at the historic Burnham or the boutique James, the bargain Days Inn or the glitzy Wit; it...

The Megabus coach that crashed en route from Chicago, killing a graduate student from University of Missouri, was manufactured last year and “had passed a full preventative maintenance check within the past week,” the company says.Megabus released the...